Temple of Zeus, Olympia

Coordinates: 37°38′16″N 21°37′48″E / 37.63778°N 21.63000°E / 37.63778; 21.63000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Temple of Zeus
Greek temple
Architectural styleAncient Greek architecture
LocationOlympia, Greece
Construction startedc. 472 BC
Completed456 BC
DestroyedAD 426 (sanctuary), AD 522, AD 551
Height68 feet (20.7 m)
Technical details
Size236 by 98 ft (72 by 30 m)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Libon
Other designersPaeonius, Alcamenes

The Temple of Zeus at Olympia was an ancient

Greek temple in Olympia, Greece, dedicated to the god Zeus. The temple, built in the second quarter of the fifth century BC, was the very model of the fully developed classical Greek temple of the Doric order.[1]

Construction

The Temple of Zeus was built on an already ancient religious site at Olympia. The Altis, an enclosure with a sacred grove, open-air altars and the tumulus of Pelops, was first formed during the tenth and ninth centuries BC.[2][3] The temple was constructed between c. 472 and 456 BC.[4]: 16 

Floor plan
Pedimental sculptures in the Archaeological Museum of Olympia

The temple was of

pronaos (porch), mirrored by a similar arrangement at the back of the building, the opisthodomos. The building sat on a crepidoma (platform) of three unequal steps, the exterior columns were positioned in a six by thirteen arrangement, two rows of seven columns divided the cella (inner chamber) into three aisles. An echo of the temple's original appearance can be seen in the Second Temple of Hera
at Paestum, which closely followed its form.

Pausanias visited the site in the second century AD and states that the temple's height up to the pediment was 68 feet (20.7 m), its breadth was 95 feet (29.0 m), and its length 230 feet (70.1 m).[5] It was approached by a ramp on the east side.

Because the main structure was of a local

Pentelic marble, cut thin enough to be translucent, so that on a summer's day, "light comparable to a conventional 20-watt bulb would have shone through each of the 1,000 tiles."[7]

From the edge of the roof projected 102 waterspouts or

Roman period.[8]

Sculpture and decorations

See also: Apollon of Olympia
Cretan bull
(Archaeological Museum of Olympia, Greece)

The sculptural decoration in imported

metopes and triglyph friezes, topped by pediments filled with sculptures in the Severe style, now attributed to the "Olympia Master" and his studio.[citation needed
]

The Eastern pediment depicts the chariot race between

Centauromachy with Theseus and the Lapiths. The god Apollo is featured on the western pediment pointing towards the human side in the Centauromachy, indicating his favor, and towards the northern side of the temple.[10] Pausanias reports in his Description of Greece (5.10.8) that the Eastern pedimental sculpture was created by Paeonius and the Western sculpture was carved by Alcamenes.[11] The metopes from the temple depict the twelve labours of Heracles.[citation needed
]

Statue of Zeus

Main article: Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Conjectural cutaway view, 1835

The temple housed the renowned

Chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statue was approximately 13 m (43 ft) high, and was made by the sculptor Phidias in his workshop on the site at Olympia. The statue's completion took approximately 13 years (470–457 BC) and was one of Classical Greece's most revered artistic works.[citation needed
]

The installation of the colossal statue coincided with substantial modification of the cella. The internal columns and their stylobates were dismantled and repositioned, which likely necessitated retiling the roof. The original floor, paved with large blocks of shell stone, was covered with water-resistant lime, which may have helped protect the statue's ivory against humidity.[citation needed]

Subsequent history

The Temple of Zeus in 2016

The Roman general

Mummius dedicated twenty-one gilded shields after he sacked Corinth in 146 BC; they were fixed at the metopes of the eastern front side and the eastern half of the south side.[citation needed
]

Archaeologists have long postulated the Temple was destroyed by the earthquakes of AD 522 and 551, known to have caused widespread damage in the Peloponnese, although a 2014 paper hypothesizes that the columns may have been "intentionally pulled down by ropes during the early Byzantine period". Flooding of the Kladeos river (Foundoulis et al., 2008), or by tsunami (Vott et al., 2011), led to abandonment of the area in the 6th century. Eventually the site was covered by alluvial deposits of up to 8 meters deep.[12]

The site of the ancient sanctuary of Olympia, long forgotten under landslips and flood siltation, was identified in 1766 by the English antiquarian

Musée du Louvre (with the authorization of the Governor of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias).[13][15] Systematic excavation began in 1875, under the direction of the German Archaeological Institute, and has continued, with some interruptions, to the present time.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ by Temple of Zeus at Archaeopaedia, Stanford University
  2. ^ (Hellenic Ministry of Culture: The sanctuary site at Olympia, including the Temple of Zeus
  3. ^ Preceding the Temple of Zeus in the temenos at Olympia were the Iarchaic structures: "the temple of Hohepa, the Prytaneion, the Bouleuterion, the treasuries and the first stadium."
  4. ISBN 9781443881913
    .
  5. ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 5.10.3 via Perseus Digital Library
  6. ^ Frazer 1913, p. 502.
  7. ISBN 978-1-4438-8191-3
    .
  8. OCLC 263716831
  9. ISBN 9780192842022
    .
  10. ISBN 9780500288771
    .
  11. ^ Vinzenz Brinkmann, Zurück zur Klassik, In: Vinzenz Brinkmann (ed.): Zurück zur Klassik. Ein neuer Blick auf das Alte Griechenland. Exhibition catalogue Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung, Frankfurt am Main 2013. Munich 2013, pp. 40-46.
  12. ^ Alexandris, Argyris & Psycharis, Ioannis & Protopapa, Eleni. (2014). THE COLLAPSE OF THE ANCIENT TEMPLE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA
  13. ^ a b Guillaume-Abel Blouet, Expedition scientifique de Morée ordonnée par le Gouvernement Français; Architecture, Sculptures, Inscriptions et Vues du Péloponèse, des Cyclades et de l'Attique (Volume I, 1831) Abel Blouet, Amable Ravoisié, Achille Poirot, Félix Trézel et Frédéric de Gournay, Firmin Didot, Paris.
  14. ^ Eugène Emmanuel Amaury Duval, Souvenirs (1829-1830), Librairie Plon, E. Plon, Nourrit et Cie, imprimeurs-éditeurs, Paris, 1885.
  15. ^ Yiannis Saïtas et al., L'œuvre de l'expédition scientifique de Morée 1829-1838, Edited by Yiannis Saïtas, Editions Melissa, 2011 (1st Part) - 2017 (2nd Part).
  16. ^ Olympia at the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut

· Pausanius Description of Greece

Sources

External links

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37°38′16″N 21°37′48″E / 37.63778°N 21.63000°E / 37.63778; 21.63000

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